Compensation from BT?

System

If you are officially a home worker then your company should be sorting out a broadband connection for you, however, I suspect from your comments that it is a case of them allowing you to work from home, therefore the onus will be on you to ensure that you have a broadband connection to do it.

Gordon_Hose

BT aren't liable for anything, basically.

onomatopoeia99

I'd suggest that you may wish to consider having a private circuit installed if you want uptime guarantees and compensation. Google "leased line" and go from there.

You probably won't like the cost.

LazyTyper

BT do offer a "delayed provision" credit, although it's only £20 or something.

Depends on how much you have been delayed by.

Raise a formal complaint as it's an inconvenience, but I don't think not being able to work form home will hold much weight (as it's not a business product, as others have stated).

I got £20 when I complained about a similar situation... which went towards a few beers.

tomb100

I've recently had two missed appointments from BT. They have offered a derisory compensation of £20 (10 per apt). What a slap in the face. I took the day off work each time costing me somewhere in the region of £150/day.


I took this to the ombudsman and they AGREED WITH BT


Very disappointed with this and unsure what to do next.


Any advice appreciated!

LazyTyper

What did the ombudsman say to justify their decision?

Unfortunately it is unlikely you will see more than the measly £10 per missed appointment, as your ISP will claim it's a matter out-with their direct control, as it's Openreach who missed the appointment.

Although Openreach are a part of BT, they are a supplier to BT Retail and operate as a completely separate entity.

You could take it to a small claims court, but I am not sure how successful you would be.

It's rubbish I know

Uxb

As I've sadly said before it will stop when someone seriously well paid ends up sending them a bill for a day off at a few hundred £/hr.

Equally sadly it will never happen because that sort of person will be buying a commercial grade connection to their home complete with service level agreements and a dedicated number to ring if there is a problem. They would never go near cheap/cheerful domestic broadband complete with rubbish call centres.

...and this is probably why BTOR did not turn up to you - they were busy dealing with the appointments that would cost them a lot of money if they did a "no show"

tomb100

Thanks for replies. The ombudsman sympathised with bt in that it was open reach not bt that missed the appt. I told him that was ridiculous and it was of no concern to me who bt subcontract to. They sent me a summary of their deliberations:

Dear Mr


Your complaint about BT


Thank you for speaking to me this morning about your complaint.

As we discussed, the complaint has been allocated to me to investigate and I have now been afforded opportunity to review the information both you and BT have provided.

BT’s records are consistent with the summary of the complaint that you provided to us inasmuch as it accepts it failed to provide telephone services to you from the date you moved into your home (17 May 2014) until early-August 2014. It also acknowledges that, although your original order was for BT Infinity broadband, it has not been able to provide this product to you. It says that it is only able to provide BT broadband to your address. It provided this for a period commencing in mid-August. Further, BT acknowledges that engineers failed to attend for two appointments it booked for you. It accepts this caused additional inconvenience to you.

By way of remedy, you have asked that BT be required to;

refund you £320, this being two day’s salary, to cover the time spent at home waiting for engineers to attend;

issue a goodwill gesture of £500 to mark your inconvenience in general terms;

refund £190.04, this being the costs you incurred accessing mobile data during the period you were without broadband services.

As explained, as a general principle, Ombudsman Services will not ask a service provider to reimburse a complainant’s salary in circumstances where an appointment has been missed.

I note that BT has offered to apply a credit of £10 to mark each missed appointment, this being the sum set out under BT’s "customer service guarantee scheme" which forms part of its terms and conditions. You explained that you felt £10 was wholly inadequate.

To explain, when Ombudsman Services looks at a complete we do take into account the terms of the "customer service guarantee scheme". However, we also try to look at the broader picture (i.e. the circumstances of the missed appointment, surrounding delays and apparent inconvenience, etc).

As such, we may ask a company to provide a goodwill gesture that is intended to mark inconvenience in general terms, based upon the severity of the shortfall experienced and its duration (but not calculated by reference to the complainant’s income).

With regards to your further request for a goodwill gesture of £500, as explained when we spoke, this is not consistent with the sum the Ombudsman would consider appropriate, taking into account the length of delay and nature of the fault. You explained that you were not able to keep in touch with family in Australia and felt you were otherwise prevented from making use of the internet and concomitant services for the period you were without services. I acknowledge that you clearly have suffered disruption as a result of this delay.

You further point out that, had BT explained to you in May 2014 that it would not be able to provide BT Infinity, you could have made alternative arrangements for your internet access (to this end, you have subsequently transferred to another service provider.

I do note your comments. Even so, I conclude that the £108.47 credit BT has proposed is, broadly speaking proportionate.

With regard to the data charges, I understand BT has agreed to refund these to you. As such, it is not necessary for me to consider that aspect of the complaint further.

In summary, then, BT has proposed to;

refund the £190.04 mobile data charges you have incurred;

issue a credit of £20 to mark the two failed appointments;

issue a credit of £108.47 to mark the delay in providing services to you;

issue a credit of £50 to offset the connection charge that would ordinarily be applicable; and

close your account without maintaining early termination or penalty charges.

As said when we spoke, I conclude, in general terms, that BT’s remedies are reasonable. On reviewing the matter further, I conclude it appropriate for BT to apply a credit to offset broadband charges, too, if it has applied any, for the period it supplied you, as a further gesture.

This is because, on the face of it, it did provide standard broadband to you for period commencing on 19 August. However, this is clearly not what you had sought. Moreover, I accept there is some merit in your comment that, had you known BT Infinity was not available, you may have sought out another broadband supplier from the outset.

Following the investigation, my decision is that BT should:

issue a letter of apology to you;

refund the £190.04 mobile data charges you have incurred;

issue a credit of £20 to mark the two failed appointments;

issue a credit of £108.47 to mark the delay in providing services to you;

issue a credit of £50 to offset the connection charge that would ordinarily be applicable;

issue a credit to the value of any broadband charges applied to the account; and

close your account without maintaining early termination or penalty charges.

What to do next


If you accept my decision in full and final settlement of your dispute, please contact me using the details below.


If you or BT do not accept my decision, then either of you can contact me, by telephone or return email me,but must be able to:

show that there is a significant error in the facts which makes a material difference; or


produce significant new evidence which may make a material difference, along with an explanation of why that information was not previously made available.

You must confirm your response no later than 14 days from the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely

　

　

　

　


Investigation Officer

kwikbreaks

A couple of years back I got fed up with VM and ordered Infinity. They agreed a date three weeks away. On the day a bod turned up and spent quite a while connecting up a phone line from the pole across the road. Once that was in place he said the Infinity installer would be coming and cleared off. Nobody turned up.

I phoned and was told I'd be getting an early appointment. I got a callback later offering one three weeks later so I cancelled the lot and stayed on cable. I have since moved to FTTC after VM annoyed me once again but took it with Plusnet (sadly still part of BT). At least the first one cost them some wasted effort.

http://www.idontbelieveit.me.uk/category/services/british-telecom/

talktalktobt

You make a critical but not unusual mistake. You make the assumption that Openreach are a part of the company from whom you are purchasing your line... they aren't.

You are ordering your line from 'BT Consumer' but it is 'Openreach' who are at fault. They are both BT Group Companies, but quite separate and therefore different companies. (http://btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Groupbusinesses/index.htm)

The £20 you have been offered by BT is £20 more than the majority in your situation. I applaud your crusade here, but the very structure of the telecoms provision set-up and it's legislation make it futile at best.